Improved brick-machine



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEe A. R. MCNAIR, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

IIVIPROVED BRICK-MACHINE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 54,752, dated May 15,1866.

To all 'whom 'it may concern Be it known that I, ANTOINE R. MCNAIR, ofthe city, county, and State ot' N ew York, have Y invented a new andvaluable Improvement in Brick-Machines; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the constructionand operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings,making a part of this speciiication, and to the letters and figures ofreference marked thereon.

The object of my invention is to provide means for manufacturing brickswith greater rapidity and in greater perfection than has been possibleby the means heretofore devised.

To this end I construct a machine as represented by the drawings, inwhich letter A is a cog-wheel attached to the front end of a shaft,B.tIThis shaft B extends from the righthand side to the left of my machine,through the cen ter ofthe mortar-box, and revolves on boxes or bearingsat each end thereof. I attach knives to this shaft, which are made inthe form of a right-angled triangle, and extend from the shaft to nearthe top and bottom of the m0rtar-box. The office performed by theseknives is to mix and temper the mortar in the box. Being made in theform of a ri ght-angled triangle and adjusted on the shaft at properdistances from each other, they perform their functions with certain tyand regularity, moving the mortar from the right to the left or from theleft to the right, as may be most desirable, the direction given to themortar depending upon the position in which I place the hypotenuse sidesof the triangular knives.

My mortar-box is marked C on the drawings, and has a hopper throughwhich the mortar is introduced. Its top is made circular on the inside,and is so adjusted as to open easily on hinges. The front side of mymortar-box is also made in a circular form. The rear side of the lowerhalf of this box is made upright, and I sometimes place a slide therein,by which I regulate the flow of the mortar to the board which dividesthe slide-boards, hereinafter mentioned.

Letter D is a cog-wheel and shaft, to which I attach the crank orbelt-drum, by which the machinery is moved. Its cogs mesh with the cogson cog-wheel A.

E is a sliding board, that carries the molds under the mortar-box anddelivers them on the platform on the rear of the machine. E

is a similar board, the olice 0f which is to force the mortar into themolds when they are being moved under the presser. These boards E and Eare constructed hollow, as represented on the drawings, to afford aspace for the molds, and the lower side of the front E is cut out toallow the molds to fall and from thence, one at a time, on the bottomboard of the machine, which is effected by the front E being withdrawnfrom under the pile of molds. E and E are connected together at theirouter edges. Between them is a piece of timber, to which they are firmlyattached, the. thickness of which is equal to the thickness of boardseparating slide-boards E and E, so as to allow the latter to slideeasily in the spaces allotted to them in the machine.

The piece of timber separating E and E is connected with and worked byaseries of levers and shackle-hinges, as shown at O. The lower lever ofthis series is placed in a horizontal position, and is connected, by aneccentric, F, with the shaft G.

rIhe shaft Gr extends across the lower side of the machine from right toleft, and has a4 cog-wheel at its right-hand end, (marked I,) whichmeshes in a small cog-wheel near the inner end of the wheel and shaft,(marked D.) The shaft G has three eccentrics-oue at each end and theother at or near its center. The central eccentric is connected with thelever last mentioned, and the others are connected with and operate thepressen, hereinafter described.

My presser is marked H on the drawings. It is a square frame of strongtimbers or iron bars, the sides of which work vertically in suitablebands or T-slide heads attached to the sides of the machine, and it hasa firm central beam or board -of the same length and width as the top ofthe molds, respectively.

It also has hinges at the lower ends of the side beams, nien K.

The pitmen K are connected at their upper ends with the said side beams,and their lower ends are attached to the eccentric-wheels L L.

I sometimes construct my machine in such a manner as to dispense withthe small wheel on shaft D. In that case I bring the cogwheels A, D, andI on a line, and adjust them in such a manner that the cogs of D shallmesh by which it is connected with the pit on the rear E,

into -those ofA., and I, D beingbetween them. I sometimes dispense withthe wheel D and its shaft. In that case I bring the cog-Wheels- A and Ion a line, and adjust them in such a manner that their cogs shall meshinto each other.

My machine is operated as follows, namely: I place the mortar in thehopper and put the machine in motion. I next place the molds in theopening on the front side of the machine, piled one upon the other. Themolds are taken from the pile, one at a time, and moved back- Ward underthe mortar-box by the rearward movement ot' the lower sliding board.- Atthe same time the upper sliding board shoves the mortar from the boardthat separates the two slide-boards into the molds, and the latter passunder the presser. After being pressed the molds are forced onto theplatform on the rear of the machine and the bricks therein are readytobe taken to the yard for drying.

My device of feeding the molds sidewise and in a pile to the machinefrom the front side possesses great advantages over the usual method ofpassing such molds through an opening in the side of the machine one ata time;

scribed, constructed and arranged substantially as and for the purposesset forth.

A. R. MGNAIR. Witnesses:

HENRY E. ROEDER, J. G. SMITH.

